Polish Legions (Napoleonic Period) - Timeframe and Numbers

Timeframe and Numbers

Among historians there is a degree of uncertainty about the period in which the Legions existed. Magocsi et al. notes that "the heyday of their activity" falls in the years 1797–1801, while Lerski defines the Legions as units that operated between 1797 and 1803. Similarly, Davies defines the time of their existence as five to six years. The Polish PWN Encyklopedia defines them as units operating in the period of 1797–1801 (in 1801 the Legions were reorganized into demi-brigades). The Polish WIEM Encyklopedia notes that the Legions ended with the death of most of their personnel in the Haitian campaign, which concluded in 1803. When recounting the history of the Polish Legions, some works also describe the operations of Polish units under the French in the period after 1803; several smaller formations existed in that time, the most notable of which was the Vistula Legion, which existed between 1808 and 1813.

Estimates of the strength of the Polish Legions also vary and it is believed that between 20,000 to 30,000 men served in the Legions' ranks at any one time over the course of their existence. The WIEM Encyklopedia estimate is 21,000 for the period up to 1803. Davies suggests 25,000 for the period of up to 1802–1803, as does Magosci et al. Bideleux and Jeffries offer an estimate of up to 30,000 for the period up to 1801. Most of the soldiers came from the ranks of the peasantry, with only about 10 percent being drawn from the nobility.